The ferry to Ancona (about east side of Italy, about halfway up) was chaos. It started with us hanging out on the beach, still outside Igoumenitsa, when we got a text that are very was delayed: instead of departing 21:30 it would leave 02:15, so after midnight. Okay, we were already waiting, so we just accepted it instead of changing our ticket. We stayed on the campsite as long as we could and then we moved into the city to stroll around there. There wasn't much to do or see, and it was hot and we were bored, so not a great time. By 22:00 we figured it was finally time to go to the harbor. We didn't really know where to go exactly, so we made a best guess and in the dark we joined a queue of cars by a ticket checkpoint. There we were immediately yelled at by the attendant because our ticket wasn't right, we needed to check-in at the office first. It took while to find out which office exactly and also that we should just park and head itself. Once at the desk we got checked in, but now we're hearing that only one driver may be in the vehicle entering the harbor, so Federica walked through another entrance alone. I went around again, greeted by my favorite attendant once more. Of course the van needed to be thoroughly checked now (they didn't even find our smuggled tubs of feta cheese, 10%-fat yogurt and tahini). Then I had to find Federica outside in the chaos of traffic and find the right port, without numbers. All-in-all we were waiting in the right line by 23:30 and we drove onboard around 02:00.

We had just seats onboard, no cabin to save some money. Those were okay, though the AC was blazing at only 15°C and we needed sweaters. Fortunately most seats were empty and we could just kind of lie down. We managed to sleep a bit, and to kill time the next day with reading, podcasts, series and snacks.

By about 22:00 the next day we disembarked in Italy, after a solid 20 hours on the ferry. We started towards our targeted campsite for that night, sleep-deprived, hungry and desperate for a shower. But we didn't make it, just outside Ancona our camper started beeping angrily: the motor was overheating. We quickly pulled over and let it cool, while we stuffed down some leftovers. We called our roadside assistance too, however, in the end we just very slowly drove to a proper parking lot to sleep for the night. No shower yet then.
The next morning a quick test drive showed the problem was still there, above ~70km/h the engine temperature would suddenly shoot way above safe levels. Federica started calling garages and it took some 10 calls before we would one who would take a look for us directly. We drove there, again very slowly with flashing lights and honking traffic behind. The staff at the garage was awesome, they figured the coolant pump was broken but they wouldn't fix it until Monday (now is Friday morning). So we picked a nearby campsite, managed to crawl our way there and started waiting.

This is just outside Senigallia, a beach town. Our campsite is a little shabby, but everything was full already. We were skeptical of the coming weekend at first, but it's not so bad. The sandy beach is right next to the campsite (though Federica wants me to say the Legurian rocky beaches are better), with a very long promenade incl. bike lane all the way into town. At night the strip is very lively, with a crowd both young and old. And it's all very Italian, we've seen or heard only a couple of other foreigners.

So far we've done a morning run along the beach, lots of swimming, biking into town for shopping, lots of gelato and take-out pizza by the sea.